Sei Investments Co. Acquires 36,911 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 649,961 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 36,911 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co. owned about 1.09% of Woodward worth $108,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the third quarter valued at approximately $99,000,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 135.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,187,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $20,045,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after purchasing an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Woodward Stock Down 0.6 %

WWD stock opened at $185.39 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.45 and a 1-year high of $201.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $185.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is 18.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on WWD. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.38.

Insider Activity at Woodward

In related news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This represents a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total value of $1,845,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,855,506.50. This trade represents a 39.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Woodward

Woodward, Inc designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Industrial. The Aerospace segment provides fuel pumps, metering units, actuators, air valves, specialty valves, fuel nozzles, and thrust reverser actuation systems for turbine engines and nacelles, and flight deck controls, actuators, servocontrols, motors, and sensors for aircraft.